Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 335
But that's just theory.

It is true that Linqing is a big canal city. In the Ming Dynasty, it was said to be comparable to Yangzhou and Suzhou and Hangzhou. Although it is exaggerated, it is definitely not inferior to any city in terms of vitality. According to statistics, it was one of the [-] big cities in the Ming Dynasty.

But if it's unlucky, it's a bustling commercial city by the canal, and if it's unlucky, it's located in Shandong.

During the 16th and [-]th years of Chongzhen’s invasion of the Qing Dynasty, Shandong suffered the worst damage, and Linqing was also captured by the Qing army because of its wealth. With the Qing army’s combat goal, once a city is captured, no matter whether it is population or property It is impossible to stay.

According to the report in the "Military Department's Running Draft" at that time, there were 38 survivors in Linqing after the war, and there were seven merchants from the three lines of business, Xi Mingyuan, Tang Yin, and Wang Youquan. All the government offices and civilian houses were burned down, and the embers are still there. The two rivers merged into the streets, and the corpses were like mountains, how could they be counted. All the battlements were demolished."

Less than one in ten survived.

However, the original Linqing was densely populated and prosperous in commerce. It is said in the "Director and Eunuch Gao Qiqian Title Book": "A total of more than [-] miles around Lincheng, and in a city, regardless of the north and south goods and wealth, that is, gentlemen, merchants and people. , nearly a million people".

It can be said that 90 to [-] people were killed and taken away due to the invasion of the Qing Dynasty.Even if there is an exaggeration in it, hundreds of thousands will definitely not escape.

The Manchu Qing almost completely destroyed Linqing, a commercial metropolis. Only a year after the Manchus left, Li Zicheng began to march eastward, and Linqing never recovered.

When Yang Chao entered the city, he actually saw that the city was very dilapidated, and there was neither time nor energy to repair it.

Last year, "Shandong Dongchang Mansion Pushing Officer Liu Youlantang News" said, "The humble official saw that Linqing was originally the throat of water transport, and rebels... entrenched for [-] days, killing and captivating the people, leaving me with no one to guard; the battlements were demolished. , so that I have no danger to rely on..."

The Manchurian approach to Daming cities has always been that as long as they break through, there will inevitably be some damage. This is a habit they have developed in Liaodong. This is the case in Jinzhou, Liaoyang and other cities, because they did not even think about occupying them in the first place. In the Ming Dynasty city, they just stole things for looting, and pushed them behind the city, making it easier to attack the city next time.

So the Linqing yamen tried their best, but only found a hundred or so craftsmen for Yang Chao, all of whom were lucky enough to escape the captive soldiers.

Moreover, the blacksmiths needed by Yang Chao are extremely lacking. There are more than 40 carpenters, more than 40 masons, and the remaining ten or so are relatively rare. What's more, there are two coin miners.

After asking the officials of Linqing, I found out that it is not easy to burn bricks and cast money. Linqing bricks are very famous.

Linqing bricks "have a sound of copper when struck, and have no holes when broken". They are the best bricks. The Ming Dynasty designated them as tribute bricks. The palaces and mausoleums were built. Linqing bricks were used for the city walls. The Ming Dynasty set them up in Linqing. The Ministry of Industry's Ministry of Construction and Repairs built [-] brick kilns.

Yang Chao guessed that Linqing's bricks are not necessarily because of the superior skills of Linqing's bricklayers. It may have something to do with the local soil quality, just like Jingdezhen's porcelain, but this kind of resource endowment makes the local special With the development of skills, after hundreds of years of accumulation, the skills of bricklayers in Linqing must be as unique as the porcelain craftsmen in Jingdezhen.

The craftsmen who made money were related to the fact that Emperor Chongzhen opened a money making bureau in Linqing. Linqing has an important geographical location to connect the north and the south, and it is also an important business town. Therefore, Chongzhen, who was short of money, tried his best to get money. The ancient Chinese court economic concept They are often poor, do not know how to use economic means, and are often eager for quick success when they are short of money. What else can be quicker than casting money, so Chongzhen opened the Money Making Bureau in Linqing, and there are these money making craftsmen.

It's just that Yang Chao won't need to burn bricks and make money for a while. He doesn't plan to stay in Linqing for a long time. Linqing's status was indeed important in the past, but it is different from the past. After the Manchu looting, the city was almost destroyed. , the population in the city is now only [-] to [-], and Li Zicheng will definitely send people to attack Shandong soon, so the city has no defense capabilities.

Both Jining in the south and Xuzhou in the south have more advantages than Linqing. Yang Chao is more inclined to Xuzhou, because the main purpose of his stay in Linqing is to wait and see. The most important thing for him now is to rush back to the south to stabilize the situation. Of course, if Huai'an can grasp it, it will be better than Jining. In short, the current Linqing is really worthless.

So Yang Chao didn't plan to reopen the brick kiln, and he didn't have time to restore Linqing's city.

Then Yang Chao actually recruited more than 300 craftsmen among the refugees, and there were more than 30 urgently needed blacksmiths among them.

Immediately organize manpower to build weapons. It is temporarily impossible to make bird guns, but there is still no problem in making a batch of long spears.

There was constant communication with the fast horses in the south. It had been ten days since Jin Bao went south, and Yang Chao was very satisfied with this person's ability.

It is better to say that Jin Bao is strong than his combat effectiveness.

Yang Chao found out that this man was very courageous, he was very rude to the magistrate Lu Zhenfei in Huai'an, he angrily reprimanded Lu Zhenfei for being unreliable as a monarch and minister, knowing that the crown prince was in Linqing, he didn't go to greet him personally, and pulled the crown prince's tiger skin, he With enough moral advantage, he almost cursed at the officials of Huai'an Mansion.

Before Huai'an, the officials of Jining, Xuzhou and other prefectures had already experienced it. Under the pressure of Jinbao, both places sent representatives to come to Qing to welcome the prince. Yang Chao was waiting for the result of Huai'an. Wait and see, Yang Chao will take the prince to sit in Xuzhou.

The officials of Huai'an Mansion were also very troubled. Jurisprudentially speaking, since the crown prince is alive, of course the crown prince should supervise the country, or even be enthroned. It hasn't been passed yet, but changing to the crown prince now will definitely cause confusion and give people an opportunity to take advantage of.

Moreover, the civil officials in Huai'an still wanted to be consistent with the civil officials in Nanjing, and hoped that Nanjing would discuss the results before they made a decision. At this time, they were forced by Jin Bao, and they were suddenly at odds.

At the same time, with the help of Wang Xiao and Du Shouchang, Jin Bao's activities in Huai'an were very loud, promoting the crown prince with various forces, personally ensuring that the crown prince was undoubtedly the real prince, and handing out a copy of the Chongzhen secret decree to Everyone look.

Although the official circle headed by Lu Zhenfei did not express their position, other figures have stood in line one after another. Quite a few businessmen have begun to take part. Of course, they did not make it public, but only secretly supported some materials. Obviously, these people still dare not get involved in the power struggle , They just want one more way, in other words, secretly supporting the prince at this time is to leave a way for the future, I am afraid that on the other hand, they are also showing favor to King Fu.

Yang Chao understands the actions of these businessmen very well. He does not ask these people to break with Fu Wang immediately, as long as these people are neutral. He is now trying to reduce the hostile forces as much as possible. Prince Chongzhen's pressure in Nanjing is enough to prevent the Donglin Party from fighting too much with other parties.

In addition to contacting Huai'an, Nanjing is also exchanging news with Yang Chao.

Zhao Kang continued to sit in Nanjing, organized [-] civilian husbands who had been to Zhejiang, and began to let Lao Jin train.

Although they don't have much combat power, the number is still very bluffing. Coupled with Yang Chao's name, as long as the civil officials in Nanjing think that Xinjiangkou still has Yang Chao's [-] troops, they will probably weigh the outcome of the final struggle. Make a decision early.

Zhao Kang is indeed a celebrity, and people from all walks of life Ma Mingli contacted him privately.

"Is it true what happened to the prince?"

Shi Kefa repeatedly confirmed to Zhao Kang.

Zhao Kang stated: "What my adults said must be true."

Although Zhao Kang's attitude was true, Shi Kefa still couldn't make up his mind after he didn't make a clear decision. The shortcoming of not being strong enough to cut off has hurt him this time, but he still hasn't learned his lesson and is still an indecisive person.

"If the crown prince really goes south, then naturally he should be served!"

Shi Kefa was very firm on this point. He was worried that Yang Chao would find someone to pretend to be the prince. He was always a little wary of Yang Chao's attempt to go north last time. After all, Yang Chao was a general, so he couldn't guarantee that Yang Chao would not Give birth to two hearts.

"Mr. Zhao Qian, can you ask Mr. Yang to send the secret decree back to Nanjing for the cabinet to confirm?"

Shi Kefa asked, he thinks this is the most direct method, if the cabinet confirms that it is correct, it is natural to go to welcome the prince.

But he kept things simple.

Zhao Kang said with a smile: "The secret decree is of great importance, and it is related to the status of the prince. If there is a mistake on the way, I am afraid that no one will be able to bear the responsibility."

In fact, even if it was given to the cabinet, Zhao Kang didn't think it was appropriate. The current cabinet was said to be drawn up by King Fu. Who knows their position? If the secret decree was given to them, what would happen if they destroyed it?

Shi Kefa sighed, he couldn't be sure if he didn't see the secret decree, and he couldn't make a decision if he wasn't sure.

In addition to Shi Kefa, the Donglin Party also secretly contacted Zhao Kang, hoping to let Yang Chao return to Beijing as soon as possible through Zhao Kang. Qian Qianyi even privately expressed that the Donglin Party fully supported the crown prince's enthronement.

In addition, Han Zanzhou, the guarding eunuch, and Feng Kezong, the commander of Jinyiwei, supported the prince.

It’s just that Ma Shiying, the commander-in-chief of the four towns, has an ambiguous attitude at this time. It is their full support that King Fu came to power. If there is another emperor, one emperor and one courtier, they will not be suppressed, nor will they be reused.

In short, among the civil officials, the Donglin Party, which has a new and old hatred with King Fu, supports the prince, or supports Yang Chao, but other civil officials who are more prudent are still waiting and watching, and most of them hope to make a decision after seeing the secret decree.

The real obstacle is Ma Shiying and the commander-in-chief of the four towns who hold heavy troops.

Of course, these opposing forces also sent people to contact Zhao Kang, but they didn't express their position, which was to leave them a way out.

Ma Shiying secretly contacted Zhao Kang once through her brother-in-law, Yang Wencong, who had a close relationship with Yang Chao, and did not express his opinion, but only asked whether the prince was real or not.

Liu Zeqing, the commander-in-chief of the four towns who supported the Donglin Party at first, and finally turned to support King Fu, also sent a representative to express his admiration for a strong general like Yang Chao.

The other three towns have not contacted Zhao Kang at all, and they are all bound to the Fuwang family no matter how they look at it.

In addition to the Donglin Party, someone asked Zhao Kang to find a way to tell Yang Chao to come back quickly, and this force is the worst to offend, because this force is Yang Chao's parents, and his mother yelled for Yang Chao to return to Nanjing quickly, not in the north. He stayed and said, let Yang Chao come back and get married immediately.

(End of this chapter)